The way I found you

35| Matthew

Lana met her friend at the dog park, playing with Lola and Raven whilst catching up on everything that had happened over the past years. Time flies when you haven't seen each other for that long, that's why Lana was a bit late for her lunch date with Matthew, who was impatiently waiting in front of the restaurant, constantly checking his watch. 

"I am so sorry Matt, I got caught up in a conversation.", she excused herself before hugging him. 

"No worries… I just panicked for a second because I thought you're not going to show up.", he confessed nervously. 

"No. No never. I shouldn't have been late. I will be punctual next time", she said and got a small smile in response since Matt liked the idea that this wasn't going to be their last meeting and with that they started their way overdue catch up. 

The Restaurant they picked was dog friendly, so Lola could stay with them, laying on the ground after her exhausting play session with Raven. Gladly it wasn't overfilled and had cute little sections, parted by plants that gave each table a bit more privacy. 

It was extremely strange for Lana to sit in front of Matthew after not seeing him in person for four years. Sure she had seen his Instagram, but that wasn't the same. It was like looking at a whole different person she unfortunately didn't know anymore 

"You're such a grown-up man.", she chuckled when she looked him into his eyes, which mirrored the sparkle in her own. 

"Yeah… well… we haven't seen each other for quite some time…", he said with a sad undertone. "I wish we could have stayed in contact...but...dad just deleted your number on our phones. He… wasn't the same person anymore after you left.", Matt confessed, looking down at the menu to swallow some of the pain that caught up to him.

 He didn't want to show Lana how deeply hurt he was when his life basically changed overnight. He had waited that day. Waited for Lana to come back from work, even though it was in the middle of the night. Matt didn't know about the breakup and so he had sat on the staircase for hours; But she didn't come home that day. 

"I am so sorry… and I… I thought I would push too much when I would contact you… and after a while I thought doing that was a mistake but… I guess you had a new number by then, because I couldn't call you. Any of you.", Lana sighed and reached out for Matt's hand. "I am truly sorry. I failed you and your brothers. I should have… tried harder or faster. I really regret that I haven't done more to reach out to you.", she said honestly, searching for Matthew's eyes that told her that she was forgiven. 

"It's not your fault Lana… I mean dad shut you out completely and dragged down all your attempts. You know I never believed him… that you just… moved out without saying goodbye. That's not you and I am more than happy that I was right.", he grinned slightly. 

"Thank you, sweetie.", Lana said, rubbing her thumb over his hand. "So what happened in those four years? Except that you developed into a pretty handsome man.", she chuckled and made Matt laugh a little. 

"Well… dad and I are kind of distanced from each other… even more than before. Like I said… he isn't the same anymore. He is with that young girlfriend of his, I have no idea how old she is and it actually disgusts me. We don't have a lot of contact….and I started to go into the modeling business. I am not the best but I can pay my rent and that's what counts...and in addition to that I have a girlfriend. Our first anniversary is coming up and she is pretty awesome. She is extremely smart and that is totally impressive.", he told her with loving eyes that almost looked dreamy, when Lana squeezed his hand a bit in addition to a chuckle. 

The fact that Fred had someone didn't even bother her anymore at this point because she had everything she needed and the best man on earth by her side. It just hurt her to hear that the relationship between Matt and his father had gone down. To be honest, the two of them didn't get along pretty well for a long time, the boy felt closer to Lana and totally understood her view on the world better than the one his father had. So hearing about him having his life together with someone he loved was nice news.